Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
The Prayer of an Innocent Believer
Of David.
26 Lord, defend me because I have lived an innocent life.
I have trusted the Lord and never doubted.
2 Lord, try me and test me;
look closely into my heart and mind.
3 I see your love,
and I live by your truth.
4 I do not spend time with liars,
nor do I make friends with those who hide their sin.
5 I hate the company of evil people,
and I won’t sit with the wicked.
6 I wash my hands to show I am innocent,
and I come to your altar, Lord.
7 I raise my voice in praise
and tell of all the miracles you have done.
8 Lord, I love the Temple where you live,
where your glory is.
9 Do not kill me with those sinners
or take my life with those murderers.
10 Evil is in their hands,
and they do wrong for money.
11 But I have lived an innocent life,
so save me and have mercy on me.
12 I stand in a safe place.
Lord, I praise you in the great meeting.
Eliphaz Speaks
4 Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered:
2 “If someone tried to speak with you, would you be upset?
I cannot keep from speaking.
3 Think about the many people you have taught
and the weak hands you have made strong.
4 Your words have comforted those who fell,
and you have strengthened those who could not stand.
5 But now trouble comes to you, and you are discouraged;
trouble hits you, and you are terrified.
6 You should have confidence because you respect God;
you should have hope because you are innocent.
7 “Remember that the innocent will not die;
honest people will never be destroyed.
8 I have noticed that people who plow evil
and plant trouble, harvest it.
9 God’s breath destroys them,
and a blast of his anger kills them.
10 Lions may roar and growl,
but when the teeth of a strong lion are broken,
11 that lion dies of hunger.
The cubs of the mother lion are scattered.
12 “A word was brought to me in secret,
and my ears heard a whisper of it.
13 It was during a nightmare
when people are in deep sleep.
14 I was trembling with fear;
all my bones were shaking.
15 A spirit glided past my face,
and the hair on my body stood on end.
16 The spirit stopped,
but I could not see what it was.
A shape stood before my eyes,
and I heard a quiet voice.
17 It said, ‘Can a human be more right than God?
Can a person be pure before his maker?
18 God does not trust his angels;
he blames them for mistakes.
19 So he puts even more blame on people who live in clay houses,[a]
whose foundations are made of dust,
who can be crushed like a moth.
20 Between dawn and sunset many people are broken to pieces;
without being noticed, they die and are gone forever.
21 The ropes of their tents are pulled up,
and they die without wisdom.’
Be Ruled by the Spirit
8 So now, those who are in Christ Jesus are not judged guilty.[a] 2 Through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit that brings life made you[b] free from the law that brings sin and death. 3 The law was without power, because the law was made weak by our sinful selves. But God did what the law could not do. He sent his own Son to earth with the same human life that others use for sin. By sending his Son to be an offering for sin, God used a human life to destroy sin. 4 He did this so that we could be the kind of people the law correctly wants us to be. Now we do not live following our sinful selves, but we live following the Spirit.
5 Those who live following their sinful selves think only about things that their sinful selves want. But those who live following the Spirit are thinking about the things the Spirit wants them to do. 6 If people’s thinking is controlled by the sinful self, there is death. But if their thinking is controlled by the Spirit, there is life and peace. 7 When people’s thinking is controlled by the sinful self, they are against God, because they refuse to obey God’s law and really are not even able to obey God’s law. 8 Those people who are ruled by their sinful selves cannot please God.
9 But you are not ruled by your sinful selves. You are ruled by the Spirit, if that Spirit of God really lives in you. But the person who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to Christ. 10 Your body will always be dead because of sin. But if Christ is in you, then the Spirit gives you life, because Christ made you right with God. 11 God raised Jesus from the dead, and if God’s Spirit is living in you, he will also give life to your bodies that die. God is the One who raised Christ from the dead, and he will give life through[c] his Spirit that lives in you.
The Holy Bible, New Century Version®. Copyright © 2005 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.